First Avenue Review from Lee
 
Soul Asylum played a great set, including:
(In Order)TicketFirst Ave 7-25-98
 
Jump-attempt (Van Halen's)
I Will Still Be Laughing
See You Later
Somebody To Shove
Black Gold
Runaway Train
Cartoon- Just like the old days!
Close
String Of Pearls-Only Dave and Dan on Acoustic
Never Really Been- Both Dan & Dave Played acoustic
Closer To The Stars-Same as the have been playing Acoustic & Electric
No Time For Waiting
Lies of hate
NY Blackout
Blood into wine
Misery w/ Silly loves songs on the end dedicated to Linda McCartney
Cradle Chain
Just Like Anyone
ENCORE:
We 3
Candy From A Stranger
Ramblin' Rose
 
The band sounded better than ever.
 
Homesick
FirstAve_sm.jpg (10244 bytes)
First Avenue 7-25-98, a review from LEE
 
Eight friends of mine met at the Irish bar across the street from First
Avenue call O'Donnavan's, at 2:00PM to have lunch and a few beverages
before the show. We also wanted to be one of the first in line to get a
table since First Avenue has less than a dozen tables. About 4:15 a
line started to form outside First Ave. We all got in line anticipating
the doors opening at the schedule 5:00pm time. At 5:00pm, security came
out to tell us sound check was running late and the doors would open in
20 minutes. "No Time For Waiting" :-) At 6:00pm, the doors finally
opened. We rushed to get a table and got a great table to see the show.
My friend, Brian, ran into Karl at the bar. He gave him a preview of
the set which he said included "Never Really Been", "Cartoon", and "We
3". The anticipation mounted! ;-) Karl also said they are g on "Losin'
It' in practice but would not play it. Nor would they play "Draggin'
The lake" How much shit can one fan take? LOL
 
 
new article:
 
St. Paul "Pioneer Press" 7/26/98
(from Kevin and Lee)
 
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press
Published: Sunday, July 26, 1998
It's not the same Soul Asylum, but new sound is worth hearing
AMY CARLSON
 
Judging from the lines draped along both sides of the black walls
outside First Avenue, the Twin Cities haven't given up on hometown
heroes Soul Asylum just yet.
And judging from tonight's near-capacity show, there's every reason to
keep the faith.
Fans didn't have to wait long to see Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner;
he came out on stage with a special surprise guest: 17-year old Michael
Towber. Imagine a more innocent Fiona Apple with blond hair and guitar
in hand. Towber is in town putting some finishing touches on the new
Pirner-produced record she is making for Sony. The three-song sleeper
set was unexpected -- with an added bonus featuring Pirner's pipes on
the last number.
Scheduled openers Run Westy Run started off with a bang. Their
always-funky bass grooves soaked into the attentive crowd, especially
with favorites ``Take Me,'' ``Hitch 'em Tall'' and98photoa.jpg (13133 bytes) ``Dungarees.'' A few
of the last songs were big enough for an arena rock tour.
Pirner and Soul Asylum lead guitarist Danny Murphy also lent a hand by
joining the Johnson brothers and the rest of the band on a couple tunes.
By the time Soul Asylum hit the stage, the crowd was ready.
Along with two new additions (drummer Ian Nossington and keyboardist
Chris Joyner) the rest of the Minneapolis homeboys (Pirner, Murphy and
bassist Karl Mueller) ran through an hour-and-30-minute set of 21 songs,
new and not so new.
But it was the cover of Van Halen's ``Jump'' that started things --
well, jumping. From there the band broke into their first single, ``I
Will Still Be Laughing'' from their newest release ``Candy From a
Stranger.''
To the crowd's delight the group rolled through the hits -- ``Somebody
to Shove,'' ``Black Gold,`` ``Runaway Train'' and ``Misery'' -- and, of
course, they played half a dozen songs from the new album.
At one point Pirner commented in response to the reactions his new
album is getting, ``Everybody is beautiful. You remind me of that movie,
`Smoke Signals' -- you should go see it.'' But later he told the crowd,
``If you don't like the (songs), I don't give a f---.''
One highlight was the Pirner/Murphy performance of ``String of
Pearls.'' Other memorable moments included the emotionally drawn ``New
York Blackout'' and ``We 3'' one of the three encore numbers.
True, this is not the old Soul Asylum we knew before their remarkable
success, but it is a Soul Asylum that still can put out lots of raw
energy and give a bit of freshness to the songs that make up the group's
live set, even though we've heard most of the songs before.
Soul Asylum will play an all-ages show this evening. Doors open at 5.